For the New England BBYO community (Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island), Sunday’s elections of the 2022-2023 AZA and BBG International Boards were a highlight. Jack Elice, 17, of Rehoboth, Mass., who attends Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, was elected as international s’gan (international vice president of programming). In this role, Jack will be part of a 12-member international teen board that will help organize BBYO’s vision for the coming year and provide leadership and support to teen leaders in local communities throughout the BBYO system.
“I am beyond excited to represent not only New England Region BBYO but the New England Jewish community in its entirety this upcoming year on International Board. BBYO has been an amazing opportunity within my life to strengthen and develop my Jewish identity. I hope to spread that love for BBYO and Judaism to all who will listen in the year to come,” said Jack.
Among the special guests who addressed IC attendees this year were Mike Posner, Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and record producer; Josh Kraft, president of Kraft Family Philanthropies; Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue of New York; Simu Lu, actor and writer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Corey Stern, attorney against the City of Flint, Michigan; Eve Barlow, freelance music journalist; A.J. Dillon, running back for the Green Bay Packers; Jurnee Smollett, Emmy-nominated actress and activist; and Nikki Fried, Florida commissioner of agriculture and consumer services.
In addition to the hundreds of speakers and educators at IC throughout the weekend, delegates had access to a variety of unique program highlights, including:
- One-of-a-kind experiences with NASA, TED, the National Aquarium and the Autobahn Speedway (nearly 40 leadership labs and direct service projects in all)
- Exclusive musical performances by Steve Aoki, Tai Verdes, Surfaces and Social House
- A reimagined IC Summit experience produced in conjunction with a coalition of partner agencies, including ADL, National Council of Jewish Women, OpenDor Media, Pardes, Repair the World, Startup Experience and World Jewish Congress, among others
- A new Saturday night social experience, BBYO Block Party, including the world championship of BBYO’s global e-sports tournament in partnership with Lost Tribe
- A partnership with JCC Maccabi® to deliver the new AZAA and BBGG Sports and Wellness Expo featuring health and nutrition workshops, competitive sports and interactions with experts in the field, as part of a broader rollout of sports and wellness programming across the BBYO global movement in 2022. For both organizations, who together comprise the two largest pluralistic youth-engaging platforms on the continent, this joining of forces at IC marks an exciting springboard to more expansive collaboration opportunities, including elevating one another’s involvement in their signature annual gatherings, BBYO International Convention and the summer JCC Maccabi Games®, and future initiatives that engage Jewish teens through sports, fitness and travel.
- An expanded Jewish Learning Lab, a wider series of teen-led sessions and all-new networking events throughout convention
“Building resilient Jewish teen leaders is at the core of what we do in BBYO. Each of our teens takes such pride and an active role in their chapters and on a regional level and it shows with their elections to BBYO’s International Board,” said Jeff Hast, regional director for the New England Region.
“Jack, along with his co-president, Milly Asherov of Providence, and the rest of our teen leaders, have led incredible membership growth in our region in this past year as we returned to in-person programming. We are so excited to see Jack impact the lives of BBYO teens all over the world, execute his vision for next year and continue to empower teens to leave their mark on Jewish history. We know he will help to create meaningful teen programming not only here locally, but all over the country and world, including leading next year’s International Convention 2023 in Dallas.”
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